VENTURA : School Boundary Panel to Be Elected

The Ventura Unified School District will begin holding elections this week for parents and others interested in serving on an advisory committee to help decide the fate of a controversial plan to redraw school boundaries.

Three representatives from each of the district’s 23 schools will be elected to the committee, which will recommend changes to a plan conceived by a group of nine district administrators earlier this year.

That plan, whose aim was to send more children to neighborhood schools and cut district costs, was tabled in May by the district board. Many parents had opposed the plan because their children would have been sent to schools farther from home.

The board decided to form an advisory committee that would include parents and teachers. Each school will elect its own representatives. To be eligible, prospective members must either have a child enrolled at the school or live within the school’s attendance area. School staff members are also eligible.

Nominations may be made by writing to school principals or on the night of the elections.

The first elections are scheduled for Thursday at Buena, Ventura and Mar Vista high schools at 7 p.m. All elementary schools will hold elections at 7 p.m. June 10. Anacapa, Balboa, Cabrillo and De Anza middle schools will hold elections at 7 p.m. June 11.

The advisory committee will hold its first meeting Aug. 12. The board is scheduled to vote on the plan by Dec. 17.